Ancient Darkness Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

This unnerving unearthly suspense film from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic force when outsiders become proxies in a malevolent maze. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct genre cinema this spooky time. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric cinema piece follows five young adults who snap to locked in a wooded house under the aggressive power of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be shaken by a narrative venture that unites deep-seated panic with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the dark entities no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the most primal part of these individuals. The result is a intense mind game where the conflict becomes a relentless push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving terrain, five youths find themselves contained under the malicious dominion and inhabitation of a shadowy character. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to resist her curse, abandoned and targeted by entities ungraspable, they are pushed to stand before their worst nightmares while the timeline without pause counts down toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and links erode, compelling each figure to challenge their character and the principle of liberty itself. The intensity accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into core terror, an spirit older than civilization itself, manipulating inner turmoil, and navigating a presence that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users everywhere can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For film updates, production news, and alerts directly from production, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar fuses biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survivor-centric dread rooted in scriptural legend as well as series comebacks set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become the most stratified combined with strategic year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors set cornerstones through proven series, in tandem streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives set against archetypal fear. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp starts the year with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 terror slate: follow-ups, original films, as well as A hectic Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The upcoming terror slate crowds at the outset with a January crush, thereafter rolls through June and July, and well into the holidays, fusing marquee clout, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that turn these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has proven to be the most reliable tool in annual schedules, a pillar that can scale when it lands and still cushion the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reminded greenlighters that lean-budget entries can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and festival-grade titles signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to original features that translate worldwide. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the field, with intentional bunching, a spread of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and platforms.

Schedulers say the space now operates like a wildcard on the calendar. Horror can debut on open real estate, offer a tight logline for ad units and TikTok spots, and outperform with viewers that line up on previews Thursday and keep coming through the second frame if the film connects. In the wake of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup shows conviction in that dynamic. The slate gets underway with a loaded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while holding room for a September to October window that carries into Halloween and into November. The layout also spotlights the tightening integration of specialized labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and grow at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across linked properties and legacy franchises. The companies are not just rolling another continuation. They are looking to package lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting choice that connects a next entry to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to on-set craft, practical effects and specific settings. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of known notes and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a heritage-honoring campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave rooted in iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, tragic, and concept-forward: a grieving man installs an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and micro spots that blurs intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are treated as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines catalogue additions with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival pickups, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, Young & Cursed which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a day-date try from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which play well in expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word More about the author of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the check over here can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that pipes the unease through a young child’s unsteady subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundcraft, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.